This year’s Cyber Monday sales were an astonishing $3.45 billion, making it the biggest online shopping day in U.S. history, according to Adobe Digital Insights. But what else did we find notable about this holiday for commerce?

Cyber Monday Week

Over the past 5 years, Cyber Monday has started to shift from just one day to a whole week, and that week doesn’t even have to start on a Monday. As the Washington Post reported, “Walmart started its Cyber Monday deals on Friday, and Target offered two days of Cyber Monday, with a ‘15% off your purchase’ offer that was in place for both Sunday and Monday.”

This Container Store promo used the term “Cyber Week” in an acknowledgment of the multi-day discounts offered by many retailers, and featured different offers for every day through Friday.

One of our SEM Analysts noted a Cyber Week Instagram promo from a band offering a merchandise discount that lasts all week – but diminishes with each passing day. The discount started at 25% on Monday, dropping by 5% a day to a mere 10% on Thursday.

B2B Celebrates Cyber Monday, Too

B2B products such as conference tickets were part of 2016's Cyber Week promotionsWhile B2C retailers get the most attention every Thanksgiving sales season, B2B definitely has a seat at the grown-ups’ table. We spotted numerous digital offers, from Feedly’s $10 off an annual Pro subscription to UPS’s 75% discount on a 1-year membership in its My Choice Premium program.

B2B offers weren’t limited to virtual items, though: Product Manager Josh Cuttill found a major discount to a marketing conference in his inbox.

Cyber Monday PPC Ads Done Right

Account Manager Annie Duke saw a great example of targeting your entire PPC ad, sitelinks and all, to holiday shoppers.

This ad targets several possible gift-shopping audiences: those looking for “the ultimate gift,” those looking for a relatively budget-conscious gift, and those who aren’t sure what to get but know that their intended recipient likes Tory Burch.

One of our clients experienced the benefits of targeted sitelinks first-hand. Their Cyber Monday special had a not-too-shabby PPC conversion rate of 2.67 per hour… until we added a sitelink about that specific offer to the ad. After that, PPC conversions rose to 9.11 an hour – that’s more than 3.4 times the pre-sitelink amount!

Cyber Monday PPC Ads Done Not-So-Right

One problem with date-specific PPC ads is that someone has to make sure they don’t run past their specific date.

When running Cyber Monday PPC ads, make sure your Black Friday ads are no longer in rotation

For instance, Macy’s had this Black-Friday-centric ad running… on Tuesday afternoon. The line “Black Friday Ends 11/26” was especially cringe-worthy. It was the first non-headline text in the ad, and it made the rest of the ad, including sitelinks, seem a little dubious.

Cyber Monday Done… Weird

And finally, we cannot ignore the fascinating combo of Cyber Monday deals, streaming video and live chat that was Walmart LIVE!, a 4-hour event that ran from 9 am to 1 pm on Monday, then repeated for the rest of the day.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to attend a shop-from-home webinar hosted by Walmart, this was tailor-made for you. And don’t worry if you missed it on Monday, for as of Thursday at 10 am Central time, Walmart LIVE! was still looping.

While holiday sales can often be a bit stressful for those of us who manage ecommerce and lead-gen accounts, it’s also a great time to see what new ideas are being tried, from offers to tactics to strategies, and this year was no exception. We wish you a safe and festive Cyber Week!